3 Quick Happy Habits to Relax and Enjoy Your Labor Day Weekend

Hope you have a Happy Labor Day! Whether you live in the United States or elsewhere, everyone deserves a break from work-related stress and to relax and enjoy a long weekend.

Finding it difficult to relax?

While researching my new book Happy Habits: Energize Your Career and Life in 4 Minutes a Day, I discovered that anyone can reduce stress and feel more relaxed quickly and easily.

Simply view stress as an inner alert system. When you feel stressed, it’s a reminder that you need to stop, breathe deeply and shift to a more positive mindset. Research shows that you when you raise your energy, you feel happier, more positive and less stressed.

The fastest way to raise your energy is to stop, breathe deeply and do a one-minute Happy Habit. There are 40 proven Happy Habits in the book, but here are three that you can use anywhere to help you reduce stress and feel more relaxed.

Here are three one-minute Happy Habits you can do this Labor Day weekend or any time you want to relax quickly.

Happy Habit #1: Gratitude

Breathe deeply and think of three things you are grateful for right now and why you are grateful for them. Gratitude is a proven way to raise your energy. It helps you focus on the present moment and what is good right now in your life. Research from Shawn Achor also shows that if you think about why you are grateful for someone of something that the gratitude goes deeper and has more impact.

Happy Habit #2: Mindful Breathing-Stretches

Do three full body stretches while breathing deeply three times from the diaphragm. A great way to do a full body stretch is to breathe in while you bend your knees and scoop your arms below you and then straighten up and breathe out while you bring your arms over your head in a circle and out to your sides. Pause and then do three more mindful-breathing stretches. Like all Happy Habits, this is a quick mind-body-soul exercise that you can do in just one minute. It is a proven way to raise you energy quickly and easily. Do it slowly and gently to get the best results.

Happy Habit #3: Nourish a Key Relationship

During the holidays, many of us spend a lot of time with our closest friends and family. However, sometimes we don’t really spend QUALITY TIME with them and so we miss a key opportunity to really connect with our loved ones. With this Happy Habit, simply take one-minute to have a deep and meaningful connection with one person who you love and want to be closer to. You can start by telling them that you really care if they are having a good time today and ask how they are really doing. Then, look into their eyes and listen with your heart to what they say without planning what you will say in response. Really listen. Acknowledge what he or she said and if possible, give him or her a hug. Show them you really care. Both of you will feel so much better for this one-minute deep connection.

Try one of these Happy Habits now. How do you feel? Hopefully, you feel more grounded, centered and relaxed. If so, the Happy Habit worked for you. Remember that happiness is not about feeling an emotional high. True happiness is an inner state of well-being and joy. Happiness is your natural state and you can return to it at any time – even in the middle of the holidays when you are experiencing stress.

To get all 40 Happy Habits and the Happy Habits Plan, get the Happy Habits book today. Here is a list of book formats, prices and links where the book is currently available.